Into the Sky So Blue
by Nozomi Shiro
Summary: Vixie Starwind and her friends are pulled into the mercenary life by Fox and his team while being hunted by the outlaw known as Xena. Together with Fox, she must confront her past with Xena, or else it will cut her down before she gets her chance to fly.
1. Introduction

Introduction

"Mommy! Daddy! Come see or you'll miss it!" said the young vixen as she pointed out the window towards the vast cosmos.

"Heh heh, alright, alright. We're coming," said Jake Starwind as he walked up behind the excited kit and rubbed her shoulders. The older fox was wearing a tan space jacket with a light green shirt underneath and dark green pants with a black belt around them. He had almost bright red fur with a white muzzle, and his green eyes were now focused on his little girl. "What is it you want us to see, Vixie?"

"A comet! It's hard to see at first, but just look over there. I could see a real pretty blue tail at the end of it!"

Jake blinked for a moment and looked out into space, squinting his eyes so he could try to find it. Sure enough, he spotted the same thing- a soft blue dot blazing in the distance. "Well I'll be…that's some eyesight you got there, Vix. Even I had trouble finding it at first, and I'm supposed to be one of the best sharp-shooters in Lylat! Maybe I'm just getting old," Jake said and then chuckled lightly, ruffling the small vixen's brown air gently. "Strange though. I didn't think that there were any comets out here."

"Well, that's because you're not very good at astronomy, dear," came a soft voice from the console. "Otherwise you'd know that that's the Serenity Comet. It passes through the Lylat System once every eleven years." The voice belonged to Jake's mate and wife, Victoria Starwind. Instead of wearing her normal uniform, she was wearing a long blue skirt with a matching light-blue shirt top. Like her daughter, her fur was a golden yellow shade and her hair was brown, though it was much longer and had grown all the way down to her waist. But her most noticeable feature was her deep blue eyes, which seemed as deep and mysterious as the ocean itself.

"Heh, well excuse me for getting a 'C' in the course back at the Academy," Jake replied while grinning. "You know all that stuff bores me to death. Especially the math part."

"Well, I'm surprised that they even let you fly anymore if you can't identify basic things such as comets and constellations," Victoria replied as she crossed her arms and gave him a teasing grin.

"And that's why I'm paired with you, sweetheart," he said while giving her a wink, and Victoria just shook her head and smiled back at him.

"Hmph…you and mommy aren't gonna start getting all mushy again, are you?" Vixie asked as she gave her parents a disgusted look. Little Vixen Starwind was as all little kits were when it came to seeing her parents kiss; it made her cringe and stick her tongue out in disgust.

"Maybe," Jake said as he picked her up and started kissing her cheek playfully. "But I think I'll get all 'mushy and kissy' with you since you're closer."

"Nooo! Lemme go!" Vixie giggled and tried to squirm out of his arms, pushing and kicking at him as he grinned at her and kept kissing along her face. Then he started tickling her stomach, which made Vixie burst into laughter. Jake always loved playing around with his daughter, especially since she was a little tomboyish and loved to horseplay with him.

Victoria just smiled at this as Jake cuddled and played with her. She was just about to join in when suddenly she felt a tremendous chill go down her spine. She knew that something was wrong.

And no sooner had she sensed the danger when three ships suddenly came onto the

radar screen. A little warming noise had gone off, warning them of the ships' sudden appearance within the small cruiser ship's vicinity. Before Jake or Victoria could react, the ship was rocked by a sudden blow to the main engine and the area around the deck of the ship. The vibrations made Victoria lurch forward and fall onto the console as Jake fell to the ground and clutched Vixie to his breast, instinctively protecting her.

"What the hell was that!?" Jake said once he got to his feet, still holding Vixie to his chest.

"We just got hit by something hard," Victoria replied as she looked at the ships computer, trying to see just what was going on as the ship continued to be bombarded with laser fire. "But I don't understand. This radar should have picked them up much sooner. And I would have sensed them nearby as well."

Jake looked out the window and saw two Venomian fighters zoom by the windows, their frames seeming to appear from no where. "Damn, they're using stealth." He also knew that although his wife was a superb psychic, she would not have been able to detect these ships earlier unless she was alert and fully aware of the area around her. And since they were supposed to be on vacation, she was easily taken off guard.

Victoria looked on the main monitor and saw the third fighter appear, only it was quite bigger than the two other smaller ships. Its hull was black with crimson wings, and there was only one person that that ship belonged to. "Xena…"

"What? What's Xena doing here?" Jake snapped as he looked to the monitor and watched as Xena's ship suddenly zip out of view. "No one was supposed to know where we were…especially her!"

"I don't know," Victoria said. "But it doesn't change the fact that she's here now. Jake, you take control of the ship's guns. I'll try and steer us out of here-ugh!" The ship shuddered with a violent tremor as the sound of an explosion rattled their ears. Jake lurched forward with Vixie still clinging to him as she let out a yelp in fear. Victoria saw her daughter trying so hard to be brave and not cry. As she reached over and rubbed the top of her head, her attention was brought to sound of the blaring alert siren. An image of the ship appeared on the monitor and showed the entire engine area and the wings the ship covered in red and orange. There as also large red text that appeared below the ship's schematic, which read: WARNING- SHIELD GENERATOR DESTROYED.

"They're going all out, aren't they?" Jake said as he recovered, quickly looking over the damage of the ship. He knew that they had been stricken by a Nova bomb since such a violent tremor could have been nothing else. His eyes widened and he felt his gut tighten up; this ship would only take about a few more hits and they would be done for. Victoria saw this as well and felt her heart sink. When they looked at each other and then to Vixie, they knew what had to be done.

Vixie saw the grim looks on their faces and knew that something was terribly wrong. "Mommy? Daddy?"

"Come on!" Jake said and ran for the door with Victoria following right behind him. He knew that they only had another minute or so before Xena and her wingmen came in for the final kill.

"Daddy! What's going on?" Vixie demanded from her father as they raced through the narrow halls. "Are we leaving? Mommy!" She looked to her mother and expected her to smile and tell her everything would be okay. Yet she was not smiling this time.

Before Vixie could raise any protest, she was suddenly tossed onto a small narrow space with a cushioned seat. She then felt her father lean forward and kiss her brow. She looked up at him and saw that he was trying to give her a grin, but it only came out as a sad smile. She felt her mother embrace her, too, and felt her wrapping something around her neck- her own blue scarf which she wore whenever she flew. And that's when Vixie knew what was going on. She was going to escape, and her parents were not.

"No!" she cried and instantly sprung from the seat, but was pushed back hard by Victoria.

"Sorry, Vixie, but you can't stay with us. You've got to keep living," Jake said before pressing a button and closing up the pod, setting it on a course for Corneria.

"No! Don't send me away! I don't wanna be alone!" Vixie yelled and began pounding on the pod door. Hot tears were pouring down her cheeks as her heart felt like it was about to explode from fear and heartbreak.

_You will never be alone, my Vixen_, echoed her mother's voice in her head. _We will watch over you from the heavens…now be strong and never give up._ Victoria was smiling to her then and watching her with those loving eyes and for a moment, Vixie's heart was peace. Suddenly, the air lock closed Vixie felt a sudden jerk as the escape pod launched out into space. Vixie stumbled backwards from the force of it, but quickly jumped back to the window and watched helplessly as their cruiser was becoming smaller and smaller.

Vixie yelled and screamed for her mother and father and saw the crimson-winged ship fly over head, heading right for the front of the ship. Then she saw a glowing red dot fly from the ship and into the deck of their cruiser. And in that instant, the entire ship exploded in a large, violent fireball.

And all Vixie could do was scream.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Vixie!"

Vixie sprung up from her bed in a cold sweat. She felt as though her wildly beating heart had jumped up into her throat to escape the fire building up in her lungs. At first, all she saw were blurs as her eyes tried to adjust to the dim light given off by the table lamp. She was shivering madly and hugging her stomach now, lurched over and feeling a couple of hot tears slide down her cheek. _A dream…that same damn dream…_she thought to herself as she felt her throat tighten up. She thought that she was going to throw up until her friend rubbed her back and took a hold of her hand. She heard her say her name once again.

"Vixie? Hey, Vix," said the reddish orange furred Siberian husky, who now moved onto the bed with her and gripped her hand tightly. "Come on, snap out of it…"

Vixie's ears twitched at the sound of her friend's voice. She turned her head slowly and looked right into her eyes. At first, she did not even recognize her, but after focusing in, she finally spoke. "Janet…"

"Oh, thank goodness," Janet said as she hugged her, trying to comfort her. She had never seen that look on Vixie's face before…that look of horror and sadness.

Vixie slowly reached her hand up and patted her shoulder reassuringly. Leave it to Janet to always be there whenever you were in trouble. She saw that she had Janet worried and sought to comfort her in turn. "It's…it's okay, Janet. I'm feeling a little better now," Vixie said gently and started to take in slow and deep breaths. She still felt nauseous, but she could feel her heart beat slow down as her breaths became less shallow and much calmer.

"Good," Janet replied and moved away from her while keeping her hand on her shoulder. She was relieved to see that Vixie was calming down, but she knew that she was not completely okay. "It was that dream, wasn't it? With your parents…"

"…yeah," Vixie replied in a weary voice and buried her face in her hands before gently rubbing her cheeks and her neck, trying to take a moment to put her turbulent mind at ease. But the peace was ruined just as she detected something flying at her head. She looked up and reached out her hand, catching a pillow that would have hit her right in the head had she not caught it.

"Ugh…would you two shaddup?" grumbled a low voice as Gina, their avian friend in the top bunk, rolled onto her side and tried to go back to sleep. "I'm trying to sleep here…"

Both of the girls gave their roommate a look before looking back to each other, exchanging small smiles. Best not to provoke the hawk who could easily reach into the holster on her bed and send a few "warning shots" of blaster fire right at their heads. Janet gave Vixie's shoulder a pat before moving to the lower bunk under Gina and sliding back into her bed. Vixie watched her and held the spot on her shoulder where she was touched before staring at the foot of her bed and at the electronic clock on the desk ahead of them. 3:00 AM. The darkest hour of the night, and, ironically enough, the same time that she had crash landed on Corneria after being hurtled through space for half an hour. _How appropriate,_ Vixie thought bitterly and hugged her knees to her chest.

…._Vixie? _Yet another worried voice, only this time it was male.

_Allen_…She recognized her cousin's voice and knew that he was probably worried sick about her. Like her, Allen was also a telepath, having inherited the gift from his mother, Victoria's younger sister, Kalia.

_Vixie, what's going on? _he asked more insistently now, threatening to probe her mind if she refused to answer. Since Vixie did not want him combing through her memories, she quickly responded.

_It was the dream, Allen,_ Vixie replied, staring out of the window to the building that was right across from them, the men's barracks. Soon she saw a white figure appear in one of the windows, peering out at the curtain and staring right at her. Even if they could not quite see each other, they still knew where the other was at all times. It was one of consequences of sharing a mind-link.

_Are you okay? _Allen asked, though his voice was softer, more caring now.

_Yes, I'll be fine…I just need sleep. Sorry if I woke you up, too._

_Alright…in that case, I'll see you in the morning. _She could hear the uncertainty in his voice, but was glad that he decided to leave her be for now.

Vixie sat up in her bed for at least fifteen minutes before slowly lying back down. She felt tired, yet was afraid of falling asleep again. After going a little more than a year without having that dream, she thought that she was getting better. Then again, how can anyone really recover after seeing their own parents die in an explosion like that? Especially when the image of such serene, accepting expressions on both of their faces had implanted itself into her mind?

All of the doctors and psychiatrists that she had seen had said that she suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. As a result, they tried to make her take every anti-depressant known to anthrokind. But they didn't do squat. They just dulled her senses and made her slow. So, instead of following the doctor's orders like a good little girl, she just made herself live with it and move on. It was not easy, and had it not been for Allen coming to her aid and forging a telepathic link between their minds, she knew that she probably would not be where she was now.

Even though she eventually reverted back to her more friendly and lively self, this nightmare still plagued her subconscious. And every time it ended the same way, with her crying out for her parents before waking up in a panic-stricken state. It always scared the pants off of her poor cousin, who would always come rushing to her side as Janet did. This was the first time that this had ever happened with anyone besides Allen and she felt quite embarrassed, even though Janet did not mind it and Gina could have honestly cared less.

She stared up at the ceiling blankly, waiting for sleep to come and take her. Her body begging for sleep but her mind was still racing, denying the body its most basic need to rest. Scenes from the dream kept playing over and over again- the feel of her father tickling her, her mother's last smile, that crimson ship….Xena. One of the most feared and deadliest outlaws in the Lylat System, who disappeared from the public view right after she had killed Jake and Victoria Starwind. Hearing that name made Vixie's blood boil…why did she do it? For money? Revenge? To settle some petty score? In the end, none of those reasons mattered. Vixie swore that if she ever found her, she would make her suffer for taking away the two most important people in her life.

Her thoughts of vengeance began to drift into nothingness as sleep was finally overcoming her. She glanced towards the window for a moment, staring into the gentle night sky. She feel lost in the brilliant sea of stars. She could almost see the small orange blur in the distance, which she recognized as the infamous Sector Z. Her eyelids became too heavy to keep open any longer. So she closed them and let herself fall into an uneasy sleep as a held back tear ran down her cheek.


	2. Chapter 1

-1Chapter 1

It felt like she had only been sleeping for ten minutes, but Vixie woke up with a start as the alarm clock screeched loudly. It unmercifully read 7:00 AM in big, bold red text. _Aw, c'mon_, Vixie begged it silently. _Couldn't you give me at least two more hours of sleep? _The only response she got was from it was more obnoxious beeping.

Vixie sighed and slowly slipped out of bed, trudging over to the alarm clock and shutting it off while her other roommates were getting up from their sleep as well. Janet was rubbing her eyes and letting out a big yawn while their avian friend, Gina, simply hopped out of bed and went outside to use the bathroom, grumbling something about 'shooting that damn clock.'

Vixie smiled then. At least now things were back to normal. But she did not stand around for much longer. They had to be at the mess hall at 7:30 AM and then out at the flight grounds at 8:20 AM to get their briefing and before going off on patrol. Ever since Andross' defeat at the hands of the now famous Star Fox Team, Zoness' security had went up dramatically while efforts were made to try and save Zoness' once beautiful landscape. It was still rather polluted thanks to Sarumarine, but thanks to efforts of some of Lylat's most brilliant minds in environmental and earth science, and the hard work of volunteers that came to help, regions of Zoness were finally starting to get cleaned up.

As Vixie left with her uniform, brush, and toothbrush, her thoughts suddenly switched over to Fox. How was he? Was he any different now that he was famous? Or was he that same cocky, yet kind vulpine that she knew back at the Cornerian Flight Academy? The two of them had been friendly rivals at first, both of them with the highest flight simulation scores in the class. Once Fox had heard from his father that he was friends with Vixie's father, Jake Starwind, he immediately connected with her and the two became good friends. Such good memories brought a smile to Vixie's face as she went through her daily routine.

But such a close friendship did not last long. Immediately upon James McCloud's death, Fox had dropped out of the Academy to join the fight against Andross. Vixie had thought about going with Allen to back him up, but they were recruited and were immediately deployed somewhere on Corneria. And now that they, along with Janet and Gina, were stationed on Zoness, they could not leave until their required four years of military service was done. So, she had lost contact of him and it was not likely that they would cross paths anytime soon. All Vixie could do was sigh and let her mind drift as she went through the usual monotonous motions of brushing her hair, grooming some of her fur, and brushing her teeth.

Vixie emerged about twenty minutes later in her grayish uniform, frowning at the dark green jumpsuit she had to wear. Couldn't they at least get better colors? Oh well…it was not like she could go and complain about it. The only thing that would make her different from the other pilots was the light blue scarf she wore. It was her mother's at one point and it was the only connection she had to her now. It did not match with her uniform at all, but she did not care what people thought.

"Heh, looking sharp as always, Starwind," came Gina's voice behind her. Vixie turned to see the smirking red-tailed hawk looking at her with her arms crossed.

Gina Hawkins stood only a couple of inches taller than Vixie. She had mostly brown feathers with a cream colored chest and underside, though with the Zonessian uniform you could not see it. Of course, her bright red-orange tail feathers easily stuck out and for many male birds, it was an attractive sight. Of course, whenever one of them tried to cop a feel, they would usually end up with their beaks smashed or have her blaster to answer to.

"Same to you, Gina," Vixie said and smiled a bit before heading back to her room to drop her stuff off.

Gina trotted next to her and the two walked in silence for a few seconds. Finally, Gina broke the awkward silence between them.

"So, Starwind. You sure you're fit to fly today? After last night I mean," she said. There was a bit of concern in her voice. Gina might have been a sarcastic and cocky pilot, but she still cared about her friends nonetheless.

"Oh, so you were actually awake," Vixie replied. "Funny, I thought you chucking the pillow at my head was some kind of reflex of yours."

"Ha ha," Gina remarked and gave her a nudge with her elbow. "Don't blame me. I'm not the one that was whining and mumbling all night. I think the people in the next room could hear you."

"Yeah…sorry about that," Vixie said, feeling the her cheeks light up in a small blush while her ears moved down against her head. Now she felt really embarrassed about what happened last night. She was sure that she would hear their neighbors complaining about it today, but it was not the first time that people complained about her rather noisy nightmares. "I'm not exactly the best roommate."

"Eh, I've had worse," Gina said and leaned against the doorway as Vixie tossed her brush and toothbrush back on the bed. "Seriously though…you're okay in your head, right? Because I don't wanna have to baby sit you while we're up there today."

"Yes, I'm fine," Vixie said and turned around, giving her a smirk. "Besides, you and I both know that I can out-fly you even if I'm not so 'okay in the head.'"

"Ha! You wish," Gina said as she closed her eyes for a moment and lifted herself off of the doorway. They had an ongoing rivalry that had been going on since their academy days over who was the better pilot, and neither of them showed any sign of backing down.

"Well, looks like you two have patched things up," came Janet's voice as she walked towards them. Her thick, burgundy colored hair was pulled back into its usual loose ponytail with her bangs hanging down loosely. It was the kind of hair that no matter how many times you cut it, it kept growing out nice and long.

"Yeah, I guess," Gina said and let out a yawn before leaving the room and heading down the hallway. "C'mon. Let's go and eat our daily dose of slop."

"Oh come on, Gina. The food's not that bad," Janet said as Vixie came out and made sure the door to their room was locked behind them.

"That's true," Vixie commented. "It's not like the food back at the Cornerian Flight Academy."

"Ugh, don't even get me started on that crap," Gina groaned and pushed the door open. The three girls walked outside and joined a crowd of other cadets and officers that were migrating toward the mess hall and toward the hangar area. Everyone moved like sluggish cattle, and the three pilots had to zig-zag around them in order to get past them. Gina gave the sleepy cadets annoyed glances as she shoved her way past them, not caring if she knocked a couple of them over. Vixie and Janet, meanwhile, tried to play catch-up with her while apologizing to the people she pushed past.

Finally, just as the girls were about to head into the mess hall, a voice called out to them. "Hey, you three! Wait up!"

Vixie turned around and smiled. "Heh, about time you showed up, Allen."

The arctic fox had trotted up to them and stopped in front of Vixie, smiling at her. "Hey, cut me some slack. Not my fault that my deadbeat roommate didn't turn on our alarm."

His fur was pure white and appeared soft to the touch. He had a handsome face with icy, intense, light-blue eyes. To all of the females on the base, Allen was one sexy fox. Every female wanted to get a piece of him, even those that were not remotely close to his species. But Vixie was always there to chase them off and warned Allen that if he ever dated one of those airheads, she was going to personally knock some sense into him. In turn, Allen was always protective of Vixie, warding off any creeps that thought they could get close to his cousin and told her that he would also smack her upside the head if he ever dated anyone he deemed "a common bum." These two had always looked after one another and acted more like fraternal twins than they did cousins. Of course, the telepathic link they shared was a major factor behind their closeness.

"Tsk tsk…excuses, excuses," Vixie teased while wagging her finger at him and giving him a smug grin.

"Heh, then I'll try to be on time next time, Mom," Allen said and smirked as he poked her in the forehead gently.

Vixie laughed and stuck her tongue out at him before turning around to head into the mess hall. "Well, now that we're all accounted for, let's go eat. Might as well get all of the 'good' slop, right?" Gina, Allen, and Janet all grinned at that comment and followed her into the building.

As the four of them walked into the buffet-style cafeteria and flashed their ID's to the guard, Vixie heard Allen's soft voice in her head. _You seem well. You're feeling better, I hope?_

_Yes_, Vixie replied and looked back at him for a quick second. Then she picked up her tray and headed over towards one of the buffet's four sections. _Sheesh…why is it that whenever I have that dream, everyone starts worrying about me? It's not like I'm sick or something_. Vixie did not like anyone fretting over her since it annoyed her to no end. And because Allen had compete access to Vixie's thoughts through their link, there was almost nothing she could hide from him. In other words, he would worry about her and pester her until he got her to tell her what was wrong.

_True, _Allen said calmly, _but then again, not everyone has the same nightmare like you do. Not even me._

Vixie glanced back at him for a moment and let out a sigh. He did have a point. Like Vixie, Allen had witnessed his parents' murder by a hired assassin and was left for dead during a harsh winter on Fortuna. Unlike Vixie, he showed no scarring after the incident and seemed to have gotten over their deaths faster than Vixie had. Vixie was even envious of Allen at times…they both went through the same trauma, but why did it still affect her so badly? Was it because she felt that there was no closure? The assassin that went after Allen was killed by Allen's father right before he died, yet Xena was still out there somewhere, perhaps waiting to finish the job she started eleven years ago.

Vixie's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Allen put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it, Vix. Not everyone can heal as quickly as others," he said and leaned over to give her cheek a nuzzle. "Just keep being who you are and keep living. That's the only way you'll ever beat it."

Vixie's expression softened into a soft smile before she gently nuzzled his cheek. "You're right, Allen," she said. "I'll be fine. After all, someone's gotta uphold the Starwind name, and I'm not going to do it by sitting around being depressed."

"That's the spirit," Allen said and smiled to him, ruffling up her hair a bit. "Now let's get some of that sausage before it runs out."

Vixie chuckled and grinned, "Yeah, sure."

After five minutes of circling the cafeteria and picking out the food they wanted to eat, the four pilots met up and found a booth to sit in. Janet had grabbed a newspaper for them to share as they ate and chatted back and forth. It was the usual morning routine.

Gina was the first to get the newspaper and frowned at the front page. "Tch…Star Fox, again? Can't these stinkin' reporters find anything else to write about?" Sure enough, Star Fox's picture was pasted on the front, with all four teammates standing proudly in front of their Arwings and the Great Fox. "Hmph…figures Lombardi would pose for a photo-op," she grumbled and proceeded to read the article entitled "Star Fox: The Saviors of Lylat."

Vixie, Allen, and Janet all exchanged amused grins and glanced at Gina reading the article. A couple years back while they were all still in the Cornerian Flight Academy, Gina had a rather interesting and rebellious relationship with the infamous Falco Lombardi. The two were a hot-headed couple that always tried to find ways to pluck each other's feathers. Whether it was Gina's insults or Falco making the occasional pass at her tail feathers just to rile her up, there was never peace whenever they were in the same room. How the two ended up a couple, Vixie would never know. She made a point to stay out of Gina's business entirely when she started getting involved in gang matters with Falco. And before Vixie or the others had known it, Gina and Falco's relationship seemed to end as soon as it began. Two months after their relationship started, Falco had disappeared, leaving Gina out to dry without so much as a good-bye. Two weeks later, Falco finally resurfaced and had joined the Star Fox team to help put an end to Andross' War.

Gina refused to talk about what happened between her and Falco with anyone. She had not even told Vixie, Allen, and Janet, who by then had become her only true friends. Since Gina was terribly stubborn and because the issue was so sensitive, Vixie and the others did not try to force it out of her. Yet whenever Falco's name came up and Gina started getting mad, they could not help but grin. Did Gina still have feelings for Falco? They all thought she did…why else would Gina keep obsessing over him? What else explained Gina's eager snatching of a newspaper whenever Star Fox was mentioned and scan for his name?

Yet breakfast was interrupted once again as Gina gripped the paper and then threw in on the table. "That cocky son of a bitch," Gina grumbled loudly and started to scarf down her grits.

"So…what did Falco say this time, Gina?" asked Allen as he looked up from his plate and grinned up at her.

"Put a fork in it, Allen," Gina snapped back as Allen grabbed the paper and scanned over it.

"Touchy, aren't we?" Allen replied and then began to recite the article out loud. "'You seem to be the perfect wingman, Mr. Lombardi. It seems as though Star Fox would not have been as successful as they were without you.'

'Damn, right. You think McCloud would last ten minutes without me being there to back him up? I'm the best there is.'" Allen briefly scanned the rest of the article and shook his head. "Heh…that definitely sounds like Falco. Doesn't sound like he's changed at all."

"Yeah. He's still the same cocky jerk as he's always been," Gina grumbled and sat back in her seat. "I swear…I just wanna rip that smug smirk right off of his face. Everyone knows that I could fly circles around him any day, right?" She looked around the table, expecting encouragement.

"Uh…s-sure! Of course, Gina," Janet said and hesitantly smiled to her.

"Well, you just might get your chance, Gina," Allen said as he spun his watery-looking eggs around in his plate in an uninterested manner. "Word's going around that Star Fox will be stopping here on Zoness to re-supply before heading out in space once more."

"Then Lombardi better pray that he doesn't see me…or I'll really let him have it," Gina said as she stabbed at the rather skinny sausage on her plate with her fork and bit off a big chunk of it.

Janet just shook her head and turned around to look at Vixie. A small grin crawled over her muzzle before she spoke. "Still, it might be good for _you_, Vixie. You'll get to reunite with your sweetheart once again."

Vixie coughed up the milk she had been drinking and covered her mouth and nose, thinking that milk was about to go flying out of it. Her cheeks suddenly began to glow an embarrassed pink. She looked up to see Gina smirking at her while Allen and Janet were laughing. All three of them seemed to believe that she and Fox were couple before he left. In reality, however, nothing had happened between them. It was true that Vixie was starting to feel something towards him, but it ended before it could even begin for them. _Besides,_ she would always think to herself, _he probably didn't think of me like that anyway. So why bother getting my hopes up_?

"Jeez," Vixie said and coughed so she could clear her throat a bit. "How many times do I have to tell you guys? Fox and I aren't…I mean weren't, a couple!"

"Riiight," Gina said and still smirked at her. "I heard you and Fox got pretty cozy together at the big Academy ball a year ago."

Vixie felt her cheeks light up more and felt even more embarrassed as Janet giggled and Allen grinned at her. Suddenly, she thought of a retort and smirked at the cocky hawk. "Oh? You only heard about it?" she asked. "Oh yeah, that's right. I almost forgot. You skipped out on the big dance to go on that date with Falco. I don't even think you came back that night, did you?" The smirk on Vixie's face got bigger as it was now Gina's turn to blush.

"Wh-why you…!" Gina said and began leaning over the table with her fist balled up. Vixie laughed and held up her hands defensively, but looked up when their fun was suddenly cut off by a blaring siren.

"What the heck?" Janet asked and looked around at the other confused-looking soldiers. Her ears were perked up in alert. "They're doing a drill this early?"

"I don't think it's a drill," Vixie said and frowned a bit. She started to get up when an announcement came on the loudspeakers.

"Attention all personnel! Several unidentified ships are entering the base's airspace. All hands level one battle stations. Teams Murray and Starwind are to report to Hanger C for aerial combat at once! I repeat…!"

"Sounds like us," Allen said as he jumped out of his seat and started running for the exit.

"Aww man," Gina grumbled as she got up with Janet and ran with him, pushing the door so that it made a loud slam when it hit the wall. "Why are we always grouped up with that no-good kiss up and his flunkies?"

"Because 'that no good kiss-up' is still a pretty good pilot," Allen stated as the four of them were now running across the courtyard towards the hangar area. "Besides, whenever we're paired up with them, it usually means one thing."

"Pirates," Vixie said as she started to pick up the pace and ran out ahead of them. "And I'll bet anything that it's Deadwood's team."

"Deadwood?" Janet asked as she looked over to Vixie. "How do you know it's them?"

Right after Janet asked that very question, the silence was suddenly interrupted by the distant roaring hum of fighter engines. All four of them looked up and saw twelve ships appear out of a low line of clouds. Eight of them were the large winged-ships known as the Minions, one of Venom's most favored fighter models. The four other ships leading the assault, meanwhile, were dull white with jagged red slash marks along the wings. These ships were the RAPTOR models and were the trademark ships of the Deadwood Team. The RAPTORs were fast and were a little bit smaller in size than the standard Cornerian Fighters, but they still had a lot of firepower. They were designed mostly for deadly hit-and-run missions, but were also equipped with the G-Diffuser system and a strong shield system.

Vixie watched as one of the RAPTORs angled itself downwards and boosted towards them. The three other RAPTORs sped towards the base as well while the other Venomian fighters spread themselves out. She winced as she felt the four lead ships blow by overhead and closed her eyes when she felt the wind cut through them. When she opened her eyes and regained her composure, she saw the head RAPTOR launch a missile from the bottom of its hull. The missile zoomed towards one of the small supplies hangars and went right inside the open door. Vixie closed her ears just as a loud blast rang out and the hanger erupted into smoke and flame.

"Does that answer your question?" Gina said sarcastically to Janet after the blast and sprinted off towards their own hangar, ignoring the look that Janet gave her.

Vixie stared at the lead ship for a moment and frowned at it before running after her cousin and friends. She knew the pilot of that ship. It was Kala Deadwood, a female wolf outlaw that would to do almost anything for money. Nothing was too low for her, especially if the price was high enough. The same could be said for the rest of her team: Angelina Johnson, a black eagle and songbird mix, Niko, a leopard and panther mix, and Miho, a strange gray fox that barely spoke. They did not mind acting as hired guns for Andross and caused a lot of trouble for the Cornerian Army during the war. While stationed on Corneria, Vixie and her small team crossed paths with them many times and always managed to drive them away. Even after the fighting was supposed to be over, the Deadwood Team was still causing trouble by accepting hit-and-run jobs and looting jobs given to them by angry officers in the Venomian army.

When Vixie ran into the hangar, she saw three other pilots already climbing into the cockpits of their Cornerian fighters with their headset comlinks on. A beige colored pit bull was already sitting in his ship, looking over at Vixie and her friends as they came running in. "Sheesh! Could you be any slower, Starwind?" he asked. "The whole base is gonna be destroyed because you and your team decided to take your sweet time getting here!"

Vixie frowned at him and grabbed her headset comlink from one of the crewmen before jogging over to her ship. "Well, excuse us for nearly getting pummeled by missiles on our way over here, Murray. Not all of us can be at the right place at the right time." She really did not like Jonathan Murray on bit. To her, he was nothing but a kiss-up that had no special talent compared to her and her small group. The sad part was that the general of this base fell for the pit bull's flattery and ignored any achievements made by her or her teammates.

"Excuses, excuses," said one of the other pilots. This time it came from a male Doberman named Rosco Martinez, another kiss-up pilot that was part of Murray's small group. Both he and his twin brother, Bono, acted less like soldiers and more like common, near-brainless thugs.

"Yeah," added Bono as he paused on the ladder up into his cockpit and smirked at Vixie. "Is coming up with excuses the best thing you and your posse can do, Starwind?"

"Why don't you two mutts shut your traps?" Gina snapped at them as she ignored the step ladder and leapt right into her ship, landing comfortably in her seat. "Unlike you guys, we're not complete amateurs."

"Wanna say that to our faces, feather-brain?" Rosco asked as the fur on the back of his neck began to rise.

"I just did, you jackass," Gina said. She smirked when she saw the twins growl and bear their teeth at her.

"Gina, don't tease the poor pups," Allen said and smirked as he was adjusting his headset and jumped onto the wing of his fighter and then hopped into the cockpit. "You're starting to make their brains hurt." Vixie and Janet both stifled a small laugh under their breath while the brothers began to bare their fangs at Allen.

"You..! You think your so friggin' smart, don't ya?" Bono snapped at him, but was interrupted by the sound of another rattling explosion, followed by turret gunfire right after.

"Cut the chatter, all of you!" Murray barked before turning to Vixie. "Starwind, get your teammates' mouths under control or I'll report you all to General Livingston once this is over!"

_Figures you would, you no good tattle-tale, _Vixie thought bitterly and gave him a frown. But instead of attempting to chew the ensign out, she decided to let it go. She decided to give Allen the same message through telepathy. _Let's try not to push Murray's buttons anymore than we have to today, Allen. We can put him and his goon squad to shame once we're in the air._

_Good point, _he replied as he began starting up his ship's engines. _But I won't feel sorry for them if they're stupid enough to get caught in my crossfire._

_You and me both._

Vixie's attention was then brought to the sound of crates crashing near one of the fighters. Lying on the ground was the fourth pilot, a little Jack Russell terrier who was named Russell. She thought that his parents either had a corny sense of humor, or were, like Rosco and Bono's parents, very unoriginal in naming their pup. Apparently Russell had been startled by the explosion and let go of the ladder, which caused him to fall backwards into the supply crates next to his ship. This was not a first for Russell. He was considered to be a big clutz and was often frightened very easily. Vixie was unsure of how this accident-prone terrier ever became a pilot.

"Evans, you train wreck!" Murray yelled over the humming engines. "Could you possibly try not making us look bad?"

"S-sorry, sir!" yipped the small terrier and blushed in embarrassment. He tried to get up to his feet but kept tripping over the boxes. Vixie watched as Rosco and Bono just sat in their seats and laughed while they warmed up their engines for take-off. Vixie gave the twins a glare and ran over to Russell's side. Yeah, he was clumsy and probably should not even be here, but he was still sweet-hearted and he really did try his best every day. She knew that he deserved better teammates than Murray and the twins, who did nothing but make fun of him.

"Here," she said and took a hold of Russell's hand and lifted him up to his feet.

Russell looked up to her with nervous eyes and blushed. The only color on his face were his brown ears and a patch on his left eye. The rest of his fur was a milky white. His chocolate brown eyes only seemed to add to his cuteness. Yes, Russell was the epitome of one of Corneria's fiercest pilots. "Thanks," he said and tried to regain himself, taking in a few quick breaths to try and calm him self down.

"Here," Vixie said and raised two fingers to his left temple. "Close your eyes and inhale…slowly."

Russell looked a little confused, but closed his eyes and started to take in a slow breath. As he did this, Vixie closed her eyes and inhaled with him, concentrating on syncing her breathing with his. This was a calming trick she saw her mother perform long ago, and something that she and Allen were able to learn on their own. She concentrated first on her own calm heart beat and steady intake of air, and then focused on calming Russell's mind so he could do the same. Like magic, she could feel Russell's frantic heartbeat slowing down as his breath became more relaxed. And when she held her breath, so did he.

_Good…now release_, she thought to him and let out a slow breath. Russell exhaled calmly and opened his eyes again, looking a lot less nervous and jittery then he did before. Vixie opened her eyes and smiled at him as she removed her fingers from his temple. "There. Feel any better?"

"Yeah…a lot, really," Russell said and looked at her with amazement. "How did you do that?"

"Let's just say it's a little calming trick that Allen and I both use whenever we're nervous," she said. The truth was, she was not really sure how the trick worked either. It had something to do with a telepath's ability to link their mind to another's and focus on making them calm. She remembered this trick because her mother had used it on her whenever she got scared. Allen's mother, who also had telepathic abilities, did the same thing with her son.

"Starwind!" came Gina's voice as the overhead hatch to her cockpit was closing. "Hurry up and get in your ship before Murray leaves us in the dust!"

Vixie turned and saw that Murray and the twins were already beginning to hover above the ground. She turned to Russell and gave him a small pat on the shoulder. "Just keep a calm head and you'll be fine, got it?" she said before giving him a confident smile. Russell nodded to her and smiled sheepishly before quickly climbing into his cockpit when he heard Murray yelling at him over the radio.

Vixie ran over to her fighter, jumped onto the wing, and then jumped once more into the cockpit. She pressed the button on the console that made the overhead hatch close and then quickly began pressing the buttons and flipping the switches needed to turn on the ship's engines She felt the ship give a small jolt as the engines began to hum lowly. She felt her mind phase out for a moment as her fingers went through the motions of pressing the right sequence of buttons. She had done this so many times, it all came as second nature to her. She then zoned back in as the ship's computer came online. She went through the checklist, making sure that the shields were up and that the G-Diffuser system was functioning properly. Once she finished warming up the engines, she grabbed a hold of the control wheel and set the engines to hover.

"Glad to see you could finally join us, Miss Starwind," came Jonathan's obnoxious voice over the radio. "Now that you and Evans are finally done with your little moment, we may actually have some hope of saving this base before those pirates completely trash it."

"Well, I'm honored that your fine team decided to wait for little old me," Vixie said with obvious sarcasm in her voice and as she began to slowly rotate the ship out towards the exit.

"Hmph," was all Jonathan said before addressing everyone. "Alright, my team and Team Starwind, listen up. Two ship carrier hangers have already been hit, so aside from some of the turret guns that the other soldiers will be using, we're the only defense left for this base. And we've got at least twelve fighters to deal with. Starwind, you and your team will take the fighters while we take on the Deadwood team."

"Like hell you will," came Gina's voice over the radio. "You won't last five minutes against Kala and her team, Murray, and you know it."

"Question my orders again, Hawkins, and you'll be scrubbing the every floor in this entire base," Murray said, trying his best to sound threatening.

"Ooooh, I'm so scared," Gina replied sarcastically.

"Ensign Murray, Gina does have a point," came Janet's voice, the voice of reason. "Kala will come after us since we're the only group that's ever given her a challenge. It only makes sense that we'd-"

"The only thing that makes sense is you shutting your snout, Roan," Murray replied in an angry voice. "Unless you'd rather join Hawkins in clean-up duty, then do as I say."

"Yes, sir," Janet replied, though Vixie could hear the annoyance in Janet's voice.

Vixie never knew why, but Murray seemed to have a problem with her and her friends the moment they set foot on the base. "Roger that," Vixie said waited for her clearance to launch. "We'll handle the fighters while you try to take out the Deadwood team."

"That's more like it," he said with some satisfaction in his tone before be zoomed out of the hangar with Rosco and Bono following him in turn, and then little Russell taking off after them.

"Geez…I wish that the higher ups would hurry up accept our transfer to Katina," Gina said once Murray and his team left the immediate area. "I'm tired of this dump and that stupid Murray actin' all superior around us."

"It can't be helped," Janet replied. "We're needed here to hold the fort until more reinforcements from Corneria arrive. We can't afford to let Venom get a hold of Zoness again."

"Yeah," Vixie said. "Besides, we've all sold our souls to the military. We've still got at least three more years, so we might as well make the best of it."

"Let's cut the chatter, guys," Allen said before looking over to his cousin's ship. "Vixie, you're up next."

"Oh, right. Sorry 'bout that," Vixie said as her attention turned to one of the soldiers giving her the cue to take off. Without wasting another moment, she turned the thrusters arms and pushed the control wheel forward, zooming out of the hangar and the up into the air. Allen, Gina, and Janet zoomed right out after her

Vixie took a moment to close her eyes and let out a soft sigh. This was her favorite part about flying. The jerk of the ship as the engines thrust it into the air, the speed and the sharp climb, the sound of the wind hitting the windows and wings as she cut into the sky…It was as invigorating as it was calming. She loved being in the air. It was the only place that she felt completely free. So what if she was a lapdog of the Cornerian army? So long as she got to fly, it did not matter to her who she flew for.

"Hey, Vixie…Vixie! Watch your tail!" Gina suddenly yelled.

Vixie opened her eyes and saw laser fire fly right by her wings. She looked down on the radar and saw three enemy fighters ganging up behind them soon after take off. "Crap!" Vixie said as she tried to focus back in and did a quick barrel roll to avoid the rest of the shots. "Everyone, split up!" Following her orders, Allen, Gina, and Janet broke from formation to try and draw the fighters away. Instead, the enemy ships, which the computer's database recognized as "Minions," remained right on Vixie's tail.

"Three versus one, eh?" Vixie asked as she swerved the ship left and right to avoid their fire. "Fine…let's see how you like it!" Vixie pulled back on the controls and made the ship go into a flip. The Minions flew under her while she was in mid flip and once she was right-side up, she was right behind one of the ships. "Heh, gotcha!" she exclaimed as she charged up her laser canons and fired at the engine of the Minion. The ship exploded in one hit and the shrapnel damaged its partners considerably.

"Nice shooting, Vixie!" came Janet's voice over the radio as she began chasing down one of the damaged Minions.

"That was a little close," Gina said next as she came up alongside Vixie and shot down the other damaged ship. "You sure that you're feelin' alright, Starwind? I'd hate for my rival to get shot down just because she decided to space out."

Vixie looked out her right at Gina's fighter and smirked at her through the window. "Don't count on that happening anytime soon, Gina," she said. "I'll bet you twenty credits that I shoot down more fighters than you."

"You're on!" Gina replied before taking off towards one of the other fighters. Vixie turned the ship around and started to take aim for one of Minion ships that was taking aim for the turrets on the ground.

"Gahhh! I'm hit!" yelped Bono's voice over the radio. Vixie turned her head and saw a Cornerian fighter falling down towards the ground with smoke trailing behind it. The ship crashed and skidded on the ground, but it did not explode. Vixie looked up as she saw the RAPTORs literally flying circles around Murray and his team.

"Bono-! Argh!" Rosco yelled as he was shot in the back by one of the fighters.

"Looks like Murray and his goons are getting the snot kicked out of them," Gina said as she shot down another fighter.

"Should we help them?" Janet asked, directing the question towards Vixie.

Vixie thought about it for a moment, but it did not take her very long to come up with a decision. "To hell with what Murray wants," she said before she turned her ship and started flying towards the dogfight going on between the Deadwood Team and Murray's small unit. "Allen, Gina, Janet, form up with me. Let's give Kala and her friends a real fight, shall we?"

"Yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about!" Gina said as she flew up on Vixie's right side, though remained diagonally behind her.

"Heh, Murray's gonna chew us out for this," Allen said as he flew up on Vixie's left side, flying directly across from Gina. "But who knows…maybe he'll be grateful for once?"

"Doubtful," Janet said and completed the diamond shaped formation by flying behind the others. "Still, at least we should have some fun with these guys, right?"

"Yeah," Vixie said as she cracked her neck. "Alright, let's go!" Vixie pushed the center button on her ship and boosted forward towards the fight, with her friends following right behind her.

It did not take long for Murray to notice them. "Starwind! What the hell are you doing here? I told you to- ugh!" he was cut off just as his wing was hit.

"Didn't we tell you morons that you're no match for the Deadwood Team?" Gina said as she broke from the formation first, flying at one of the RAPTORs.

"Hey, Hawkins! About time you showed up in that tacky ship of yours," came a sweet-sounding voice. But Angelina's misleading voice had a tone of haughtiness to it.

"Why don't I show you what this 'tacky ship' can do, Johnson!" Gina yelled and began to firing at her opponent, who barrel rolled and made a sharp U-turn in the air, making Gina give chase to her.

"Hey, Hawkins! Mind your own business!" Rosco yelled as he barrel rolled and ran from one of the other RAPTORs. "We're the ones that'll deal with these dumb girls!"

"Yeah right!" Gina said as she followed Angelina closely. "You've already lost one of your teammates and you're struggling just to keep up with these guys. Face it, you're out of your league!"

"I'd listen to the bird if I were you," came a deeper sounding female voice. It was the voice of the team's infamous leader, Kala Deadwood. "You guys are pathetic. If this is the best you have to offer, then this base of yours is already lost."

"You…!" Rosco growled as he was hit again in the back.

"You idiot!" Vixie exclaimed as she saw Allen fly off to get the pilot off of his tail. "One more hit back there and your engines will blow. Murray, take your team out of here and help with the Minions. We'll handle Deadwood and her team."

"Don't you go telling me what to do!" Murray yelled as he flipped and avoided rapid fire from the fourth RAPTOR.

"Forget it, Starwind," Kala said as she started flying at her. "We'll make quick work of you and destroy this pathetic outpost of yours."

"Heh, you mean you'll try, Deadwood," Vixie said and shot right towards her. "We've turned you away plenty of times before, and we'll do it again!"

"Don't count on it!" she yelled and fired up a charged up shot right for her. Vixie knew that she could not evade it so she braced herself for impact.

"No!" yelped Russell as he suddenly shot out of no where and thrust his ship right in the path of the laser.

All Vixie saw was Russell's ship, a flash of light, and a small explosion when the blast hit Russell's hull in the side. "Russell!" she yelled as she saw him fall towards the ground.

"Ahhhhh!" Russell cried over the radio as he fell to the ground.

"Russell, quick! Ease up on your thrusters and glide in!" Vixie said before she felt something hit her ship, causing her to lurch forward. "Ugh!"

"I'd be less concerned about some stupid shipmate and more concerned about yourself, Starwind," Kala said as she flew out ahead of her before turning around to face her and then charging towards her. Vixie frowned. She knew that Kala was just playing with her now. She let out a calming sigh before squeezing the control wheel and then thrusting it forward to meet Kala's charge. Vixie had to admit that Kala was right. She was a sitting duck like this, and if she got shot down, Russell's sacrifice would have been in vain. She held down on the right button on top of the control, charging up a blast while flying right for Kala's RAPTOR. Then, right as the ship's computers locked onto her hull, she fired the charged up laser blast and flew right over head as the shot hit.

"Ugh!" came Kala's voice over the radio. "Lucky shot, Starwind…now you're really in for it." Kala's RAPTOR then flipped upside down and twisted itself right-side up, thrusting towards Vixie's fighter. Vixie responded by using the boost and attempted to try and get Kala off of her tail. She could hear the sounds of lasers firing behind her and tried to swerve her ship out of the way. She did a couple of quick barrel rolls to deflect the other ships and flipped backwards in a U-Turn to try and avoid the rest of her fire. But Kala was just as good a pilot as Vixie was, and did a U-turn as well, keeping herself close behind her.

It was because of this close chase that Vixie wished she was in something better than the Cornerian Fighter. Sure, they were durable and were well-rounded in terms of fire power and defensive shielding, but the RAPTORs were considerably faster, more maneuverable, and had slightly stronger laser cannons. It was no wonder that the Cornerian Army had such a problem with them.

But during the chase, Vixie noticed that Murray and Rosco were out of sight. She looked at the radar but did not see them anywhere. "Hey, Allen," she started to say before she grunted and barrel rolled out of the way of some rapid shots from Kala. "What happened to Murray and Rosco?"

"They turned tail after Russell was shot down," he said with some strain in his voice. He, too, was being chased by the Deadwood Team's silent assassin, Miho. "My guess is they wised up and went off to help with the other fighters."

"What a bunch of cowards," Vixie grumbled and pulled the ship upward while making a sharp turn, nearly getting clipped in the wing by one of Kala's charged up shots.

"They may be cowards," Janet said, "but they might be smarter than us for the moment." She was being chased by the tough warrior Niko, who had been following her closely the whole time and aiming charged up laser shots at her which were difficult to avoid.

"Heh, you're not gonna wimp out on me here, are ya, pup?" Niko asked as she started shooting at her again. "You're making this easy for me!"

"Oh really? Think again!" Janet said before flipping over Niko's ship and managed to shoot one of her back thrusters.

"Grrr! You punk!" Niko growled as Janet started giving chase to her now.

"Nice shooting, Janet!" Vixie said before she was hit from behind once again. "Tch…gotta concentrate," she said to herself before her console began to beep frantically. "What?" Vixie looked to one of the flashing buttons that was labeled 'G-Diffuser System'. "Damn…she got my G-Diffuser," she grumbled and tried to turn the ship around, but the controls were not responding well at all. Now her ship was flying aimlessly in the air.

"Vixie, what's wrong?" Allen asked, sensing his cousin's peril.

"Kala shot my G-Diffuser system," Vixie said as she quickly started pressing buttons on the control panel, trying to restart the G-Diffuser manually. "Now it's malfunctioning and I can't get the ship under control."

"Hold on, Starwind. I'm coming!" Gina said as she turned her ship around, only to get her hull shot at from above. "Agh!"

"You've still gotta get through me, Hawkins!" Angelina said and started chasing Gina around, preventing her from going over to help her wingmate.

Vixie saw Allen and Janet's fighters, but she knew that they were too far away from her and were being blocked Miho and Niko. She saw Kala's ship come out from underneath her and then fly out in front of her before making a U-turn, aiming right for Vixie's ship while charging up her guns.

"Heh heh, looks like it's checkmate, Starwind," Kala said as she flew closer at her, aiming right for Vixie's cockpit.

"Vixie, get out of there!" Allen yelled.

"I…can't!" Vixie said as she yanked on the controls which were still stuck. She looked back up to see Kala's ship coming closer and saw the laser glowing brighter as it reached its full strength. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, and there was nothing Vixie could do to avoid this. _This can't be it…I can't die here, can I? Not at the hands of someone like Kala, _she thought to herself before cursing out loud "Damn it…!"

Suddenly, just as Vixie closed her eyes and braced herself, she heard laser fire come out of no where and heard it hit something. She opened her eyes and saw Kala's RAPTOR fly right over her with some smoke coming from its hull.

"Damn!" she heard Kala curse over the radio. "Who the hell was that?"

"That would be me," came a new male voice which was very familiar to Vixie's ears. She looked up, then, and did not believe what she heard until she saw the Arwing cut out of the clouds and zoom into the battle. She knew it was none other than Fox McCloud. She felt her heart nearly leap out of her chest and was overwhelmed with feelings of relief and gratitude. He could not have come at a better time.

"Huh? When the hell did Star Fox get here?" Kala snapped as she turned her ship around to face her knew opponent.

"Just now!" piped Slippy Toad's high-pitched voice. "It's a good thing we responded to that SOS. Looks like you guys are in a real bind!" He flew in right behind Fox with Falco and Peppy's Arwings appearing out of the clouds as well.

"Just a little bit, yeah," Janet said, though sounded relieved to see them as well.

"Heh heh heh," Angelina laughed and paused for a moment in her bout with Gina. "Look now, Gina. Your old flame has come to the rescue."

"Shut your beak, Johnson!" Gina snapped. Gina knew that Angelina was just trying to get on her nerves since she had a past with Falco as well, back during his old gang days.

"Huh?" Falco's voice came over the radio next. He recognized both of their voices, but addressed the one he knew by heart. "That you, Hawkins?"

"Nice of you to show your face, Lombardi," Gina grumbled before she flew after Angelina and started firing at her again. "Hey, Vix! You got that G-Diffuser working?" she then asked, diverting her attention from Falco to Vixie.

As this dialogue had been going on, Vixie was continuing to play with the buttons until the G-Diffuser light finally stopped flashing and the controls released, allowing her control of the ship again. "Whew," she said and put her other hand back on the side of the handle turning the ship back around as she headed back into battle. "Yeah, I'm fine, Gina. The G-Diffuser's acting normally again."

"Huh?" came Fox's voice next as he flew near Vixie's fighter, as if to get a better look. "'Vix'…?"

Vixie looked over towards his fighter and gave a gentle gulp. Had Fox recognized her?

"Fox, don't lose your focus," said an older voice as one the Arwings came up alongside Fox's. "We've still got quite a mess to clean up here."

"R-right, sorry Peppy," Fox said before addressing Vixie and the others. "What's the situation here?"

Allen was the one that responded. "We've got a squadron of fighters attacking the base. So far all of the hangars containing our fighters have been destroyed, and they're looking to destroy the rest of the base."

"Alright, then," Fox said and paused for a moment as he thought of a plan. "Peppy and Slippy, you go down and take out the fighters that are bombing the base. Falco, you and I will help these guys take out these punks."

"We got this covered, McCloud," Gina said as she managed to hit one of Angelina's wings. "We don't need your help."

"Heh heh, same old Gina," Falco laughed. "Stubborn as a mule, even when your ship's all shot up."

"It is not!" Gina yelled, ignoring the fact that her ship seemed to be somewhat covered in scorch marks from where she had been hit by Angelina and her other team members. But before she could argue, one of her wings was shot by Niko, who came up behind her while she was yelling at Falco. "Argh!"

"Ha! You should know better than to let your guard down around me, Hawkins," Niko said as she flew past her and came around for another attack.

"Damn," Gina grumbled and then barrel rolled out of the way of Miho's rapid fire as Allen started chasing her around.

"Get over it, Gina," Janet said as she got behind Niko again and started to chase her again. "We need all the help we can get right now."

"Yeah, so leave whatever grudge you've got against Falco out of this for now," Allen said as he damaged one of Miho's thrusters with a close-range shot.

"Mm…." Miho made a soft noise over the radio. "I will get you back for that, Starwind." Her voice was quiet and neutral sounding, but there was something about it that unnerved even someone as collected as Allen. Perhaps it was the fact that Miho did not care who she killed, so long as it was what Kala ordered of her.

"Alright!" Slippy said as he sped back down towards the base. "We'll take care of those fighters in no time!"

"Slippy, get back here!" Peppy exclaimed and flew after the eager toad.

Vixie watched them fly off before turning her attention back to Kala. "So, Deadwood, where were we exactly?"

"Oh? I believe we were at the part where I blow your ship to bits!" Kala shouted in anger before she charged at Vixie.

Just as Vixie was about to thrust towards her, Fox's Arwing got in front of her. "Huh? What're you-?" She started to ask before Fox interrupted.

"I'll distract her while you get behind her and shoot her, got it?" Fox said before flew straight at Kala and began firing at her.

"H-hey!" Vixie said, but she could not really argue with him now, especially when Fox turned around and Kala started going after him.

"I'm the last person that you'd want to piss off, McCloud!" Kala yelled as she started firing rapid shots at him.

"Heh! As if someone like you could shoot me down!" Fox taunted as he swerved around her shots.

Vixie took that as her cue to get behind Kala and go after her now that Fox was doing a lovely job of pushing Kala's buttons. Meanwhile, as Vixie was following Kala and trying to get a clear shot of her, she could already hear Gina and Falco squabbling over the radio.

"Out of the way, Hawkins. It's time to let the pros handle this!"

"Since when are you a pro, you lousy hotshot? Go get your own target! Johnson's mine!"

"Jeez, would you lay off it, already?"

"Wow, I forgot how much I missed this," Angelina interjected while laughing. "You two are so cute when you fight."

"Shut up, Johnson!" both Falco and Gina exclaimed.

"Would the two of you just cut it out?" came Janet's voice, trying to play peace maker between the two arguing birds. "Honestly, you're both acting like children."

"He started it when he got in my way!" Gina retorted.

"What? Did not!" Falco said.

Vixie just rolled her eyes and chuckled a bit as she charged up her shot, still staying close behind Kala as Fox was starting to give her a run for her money. The Arwing could easily keep up with the RAPTOR and had stronger shields, so he could last for a while against the angry wolf.

"Grr! Hold still, you stupid fox!" Kala yelled as she was rapidly firing on Fox's Arwing. But Fox's ship kept doing barrel rolls which deflected the shots away from him.

At the same time, Vixie used this chance to take aim for Kala's engines. Once the targeting system locked on, she fired her shot and got a direct hit on Kala's fighter. "Yes!" she cheered as Kala broke away from Fox.

"Damn!" Kala yelled as she turned around and set her sights on Vixie. "That's it Starwind, you asked for it!"

Suddenly, another laser beam came out of no where and hit Kala's wing, destroying a good part of it. "Ugh! What the-?!" she said.

"Ha!" came Murray's voice. "You didn't think you had me beat, did you?" Murray suddenly reappeared in his fighter with Rosco following along side him and Peppy and Slippy's Arwings flying up behind them. "Your assault has failed, Deadwood. Why don't you go back into the slimy hole you and your thugs crawled out of?"

Kala growled in frustration before addressing her teammates. "Angelina, Miho, Niko, let's beat it. No point in sticking around here."

"Aw, but I was just having fun," Angelina said in a mock whiny voice, though she was actually smirking. "Though it was nice playing with you Gina, and it was _very_ nice running into you again, Falco. We'll have to catch up sometime."

"Pff, in your dreams, maybe," Falco replied.

"Hmph. Just beat it, already," Gina said.

Three of the RAPTORs then turned west and took off, but Kala stayed behind, her ship directed towards Vixie's. "You'll be hearing from us soon, Starwind. You and your friends can count on it," Kala said before she sped off after her teammates.

"Heh, you should know by now that hollow threats don't bother me, Deadwood," Vixie replied and smirked as she watched Kala fly away. Once they were out of sight, she slumped back in her seat and let out a small sigh. She had not realized how tense her body was until she relaxed.

"Yeah, alright! We did it!" Slippy cheered. "Those Minions were a piece of cake."

"Heh, they sure were," Peppy admitted before addressing Fox and Falco. "Glad to see that you two are safe as well."

"Ah, you worry too much, gramps," Falco said in his usual cocky tone.

"Hmph," was all Peppy said. "Well, it looks like we should go ahead and prepare for a landing. ROB, go ahead and bring the Great Fox in."

"Affirmative," a robotic voice replied. Five seconds later, the large carrier ship began to come into view. Until now, it had been hiding up in the clouds and was waiting for further orders from its crew.

"Wow," Vixie said out loud, watching the large ship come towards them. It looked much bigger up close than in the pictures she had seen of it. As it came out of the parting clouds, the sun's rays were shining down on it. The beams struck the Great Fox's exterior and made it shine, making it look majestic as it slowly made its way down towards the base. Vixie was drawn to it for a moment before she felt something come up behind her. She turned and looked up towards her right as Fox's Arwing had come up alongside hers and hovered next to her for a moment.

"It is you, isn't it?" Fox asked as he looked down at her. "Vixie Starwind…?"

His voice was eager and hopeful, which surprised Vixie a bit. She did not even expect Fox to remember her, or be as happy as he sounded to see her. It made her smile. She was glad to finally run into her old friend again. But…why was her gut feeling so tight? Finally, after what seemed like a long pause, Vixie answered him.

"Hey…it's been far too long, Fox McCloud."


End file.
